Best Worst Movie: Review By B. Alan Orange

What can be said about Troll 2 that hasn't already been said before? A lot, actually, as the young star of that film proves by picking up a camera and carefully studying the various different elements that have gone into making it one of the biggest cult sensations of the past ten years. Some folks call Troll 2 the Rocky Horror Picture Show of this generation. Which completely sh*ts all over Jim Sharman's purposely fey and garish midnight musical phenomenon. Sharman and his crew knew exactly what type of film they were making, and they did it well. People love Rocky Horror for what it is, and don't laugh at it, but with it. Troll 2 is a completely different experience.

It's an ugly beast with a well-meaning disposition. The actors believed with their heart and soul that they were involving themselves in something worthwhile at the time. The director, to this day, believes he's made a fine horror classic that should be viewed as a piece of truthful art. But the overwhelming audience, on the other hand, is made up of school bully types who can only laugh at this truly horrible cinematic exercise in patience with an ironic eye. For Troll 2 fans, the movie is fun to love because it's such a piece of garbage. Its lofty ways provoke and stimulate the hipster mindset like a cold can of Pabst. Its both sardonic and clichéd at the same time. The Troll 2 fan struggles with its all-knowing Id in contemplating this harbinger of difficult acting choices and bad story elements that ultimately make no sense. They don't quite understand it themselves, so all they can do is laugh.

Director Michael Stephenson, who starred as the young Joshua Waits in Troll 2, understands this maddening, varying mindset from all angles. He's like the drifter in A Fistful of Dollars, bouncing from one viewpoint to the next, perfectly encapsulating and capturing each individual's true perception of the film, and how it's reflected by others. He manages to tell three very different stories here, and makes each one equal parts empathetic and embarrassing. He's a bipartisan soul who first shows us how much fun he is having with the project, and why it's a point of contention with others. Within him are a plethora of emotions, and he is able to channel each of those feelings through three very opposing personas: The too-cool-for-school audience. Italian auteur and Troll 2 director Claudio Fragasso. And small town dentist-turned actor-turned dentist George Hardy, who played imposing father figure Michael Waits to Stephenson's Joshua.

Most of the film hangs off of Hardy's drooping shoulders. Through a prolonged opening montage of former associates, we come to learn how nice and pleasant Hardy is as an individual. Even his ex-wife still loves him, and in her words, that's got to mean something, right? He's a good dentist with a thriving practice who, at first, appears to be slightly embarrassed by the fact that his former self lives and breaths on video shelves and late night cable outposts as a cheesy actor in one of the single worst horror sequels ever produced for human consumption. He's happy with his current job, and seems reluctant at first to revisit his long lost dream of being a well-known celebrity. But like most performers would, he loves the attention Troll 2's new life as a cult sensation provides, and he certainly wants to please his so-called fan base. Even though he doesn't quite understand the weight of it all. He wants so badly to be in the spotlight, he whole-heartedly embraces the dumpster quality of Troll 2's entertainment factor, nearly making it not so funny any more.

Hardy isn't stupid. He just doesn't quite understand what it means to be one of the driving forces behind one of the single worst stretches of celluloid ever stapled together. He knows the film is bad. But he embraces that conceit beyond its weak foundation. For the first half of Best Worst Movie, we are right there with him having fun. It's neat to see him stand on stage with a large crowd, reciting his infamous line of dialogue, "You don't piss on hospitality!" But the rush he receives pushes him over the edge. Soon, he is traveling all over the United States, reenacting various scenes from Troll 2 with his co-stars. Before long, Hardy has said his line about two dozen times, and we feel slightly embarrassed for him. Its not cute any more. Stephenson, as a director, understands this, and captures the weird magic of the waning attention span. Before long, Hardy and a couple of other stars from the film sit in a nearly-empty conference room at a comic book convention, telling the same stories they've told numerous times before. It only gets worse when they next head for a horror convention.

Stephenson understands the particular audience that loves Troll 2. He knows where they are coming from, and what they love about the movie. That all seems to go right over Hardy's head, as he plans a charity screening in his own home town inviting all of the non-ironic hipsters in his neighborhood to come watch this poop stink play out in real time. These are older folks who see Troll 2 for what it is. They don't laugh. Some leave early. Others stare at Hardy inquizicially wondering, "What the f*ck is this dude's problem?" Cult cinema is truly lost on these Middle American citizens who don't live and die by pop culture's every whim. At the end of the day, it doesn't seem like Hardy ever quite gets it. He's like the class nerd who embraces his fallacies as a human being, working with his tormentors to derive as much joy and humor from the situation as he can. He's like Lucas pulled on stage during an assembly. He tries to turn the tables on his enemies. Yet, he never fully grasps that they're making fun of the film and his performance, not genuinely enjoying it on an artistic level. Claudio Fragasso understands, though. And he's not too happy about it at all.

Watching Best Worst Movie, it becomes obvious why Troll 2 is such an odd duck. It's an Italian film made by an Italian director starring an all-American cast on a low budget. The script didn't translate, neither did the ideas. We get to watch Fragasso run through various different scenes with his actors some seventeen years after they first commited this goofy script to screen, and a language barrier still exists between them. This is a mish-mash of cultures striving for different outcomes, hung on a thin line of misunderstanding. No wonder Troll 2 is so gloriously weird. Cultural barriers are its speed bumps. Fragasso's misanthropic ideas and symbolic context don't mesh with the actor's sensibilities. To this very day, Claudio truly believes that he made a good, watchable movie. He's ecstatic upon hearing that Troll 2 has cultivated a new generation of admires. Until he attends one of the many fan screenings. And can't quite seem to understand why people are laughing at the parts that aren't supposed to be funny. He doesn't comprehend their blasphemous attitude. And grows concerned and angry about the way his "baby" is being treated.

It's obvious that Fragasso adores his work on a very human level. He thinks its good, harboring no sense of irony whatsoever. His journey in dealing with this new uprising of Troll 2 fans perfectly parallels Hardy's own acceptance of it. This all leads up to a surprising confrontation at the end between Claudio and a couple of the other actors, and we, as an audience, can side with neither faction. Best Worst Movie becomes a fascinating dissertation on art, criticism, and self-understanding that certainly transcends its subject matter.

Best Worst Movie? It gets a hefty Whoop-doo! It's the must-see doc*mentary of the summer. Especially if you're planning to hit up one of the many outdoor screenings of Troll 2 being planned in conjunction with the project. You'll definitely want to revisit Claudio's magnum opus once you sift through this tender 90-minute laugher. Best Worst Movie is not just about Troll 2; it's about every bad movie out there. And what it means to be a part of the phenomenon.

(All of B. Alan Orange's reviews are based on the Boo! or Whoop-doo! evaluation system.)